Peacekeepers

Chapter 7: The Battle of Hogsmeade pt 3

Poppy rounded the corner and saw the now familiar sight of Sebastian's unique shield, the opaque swirling silver of the magic making it difficult to see within from a distance. What she could see was the trail of blood and empty vial of a grand wiggenweld on the ground near him.

"Sebastian!" Poppy yelled, running up near him. She looked through the shimmering silver swirls and saw red curls and blond hair and her heart seized in her chest. "Diane!" She yelled in worry. "Sebastian! Lower your shield!" She yelled in panic.

"What? What's going on?" Dan said, running up behind her.

"I think Diane is hurt!" Poppy said, her voice breaking. "Sebastian, goddamnit lower your fucking shield!" She yelled, smashing her fist against the silvery magic, and yelping when it stung her with the touch.

"Hurt?!" Dan gasped in horror, looking through the shield as well and his eyes widening in worry. "Sebastian, let us through! We need to check on them!"

But there was still no response from him, other than a soft whimper from inside the shield.

"I know you're probably in a panic, but this isn't going to help anything! Lower the shield and we'll help! They need help!" Dan said, his heart hammering in his chest.

"She's my best friend! Let me see her!" Poppy yelled angrily, slamming her fist against the shield again despite the sting. Tears were starting to come to her eyes in her pain and fear. "You're not the only one that cares for them! Let us see them!"

The shield faltered at the words before it slowly dissipated from the top down, revealing Sebastian as he still held Diane and Ominis. He looked up to them with a lost look, tears streaming down his face still as he held them both tight against him.

"Diane!" Poppy yelled in panic, kneeling next to her as Sebastian buried his face in Ominis' hair with a small sound.

Poppy saw the blood stain on her dress and found the healed wound, the skin still red and raw but healed over with a vicious scar. She sighed and nearly fell over with relief, looking up at Sebastian in worry. "She's healed, I think she'll be okay."

She moved over to Ominis to look at him as well, wincing a bit from the scar she found on his chest. His injury had been much worse than Diane's, yet the scar didn't look too bad considering how wide it was. He must have been nearly impaled.

She looked over to the vial on the ground, and then down to the stain on Ominis' side and realized what must have happened, fresh tears coming to her eyes. "That little moron." Poppy said in a wavering voice. Diane had given her potion to Ominis, and saved his life, but she could have died instead. Moron! How did he think Ominis would have felt if that had happened?!

"Sebastian, we have to get these two to Anne. They need to rest." Danny said, leaning on his rifle to kneel down, wincing from his own injury with the movement. When Sebastian didn't respond, Danny snapped his fingers to get his attention, moving the snaps to his face so Sebastian's gaze caught his. "They need to get to Anne to heal. She'll have more potions back at her house."

Natty finished scouting the area and arrived to see Diane and Ominis as well, gasping in horror at the sight. She cast a guilty look to Ominis, because she must have misjudged him after all. She hadn't entirely trusted him yet, but... he had gotten nearly killed in this fight.

"Alright." Sebastian said with a raspy voice, his eyes still haunted as he dealt with what was happening. "I'll take them."

"Apparating two people can be dangerous! I'll take Diane." Poppy insisted, reaching toward her.

"NO!" Sebastian snapped at her angrily, holding Diane tight.

"Sebastian, I swear on my life I'll keep her safe. You can have her right back once we get to Anne, okay?" Poppy said patiently.